In September of 2008 I was working as a new Director of Studies at a private language school in Naples, Italy. One day my boss called me into his office to tell me that he wanted me to gather all the information possible about becoming a TOEFL test center. Naturally, one step ahead as always, I showed him all the information I had already gathered. To make a long story short in a very short time we became an ETS certified TOEFL ibt Test Center and I was not only a new DOS but a new TOEFL Test Center Administrator as well.
Shortly thereafter students began to arrive looking for TOEFL preparation and it was my job to design a didactic program and train our other teachers both from our school and partner schools in our area. I'd had experience with Cambridge ESOL Examinations and other exams where the preparation can be a long and difficult process. Anyone already familiar with TOEFL knows that it is quite different both in form and content from Cambridge and other ESOL exams in circulation. The main problem was that students came to us perhaps two months before having to sit the exam. Not having the time available to follow a long language based preparation; it became quickly apparent that the only feasible option was to teach the test itself. In this article, windy preamble concluded, I will outline the steps to take in order to prepare your students to receive the best marks possible on TOEFL quickly with their current linguistic preparation
First, for general reference the scoring guide in relation to the Common European Framework (CEFR):
CEFR Level
TOEFL ibt Score ranges
A-1 (Elementary)
No Predictable Score
A-2 (Pre-intermediate)
No Predicable Score
B-1 (Intermediate)
45-60 pts
B-2 (Upper-Intermediate)
60-75 pts
C-1 (Advanced)
75- 100 pts
C-2 (Proficiency)
100-120 pts
After 10 hours of guided preparation and a great deal of self study my students, with very few exceptions, routinely exceeded these suggested scores by 5-15 points.
If you're reading this article you probably already know that TOEFL consists of four parts, Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing, in that order. Given that both the reading and the listening sections consist largely of multiple guess answers the best thing to do is to leave these 'simpler' sections until last.
The ten hour program I designed breaks down roughly to this: The first 3 one hour lessons are dedicated to writing practices. The next three hours are devoted to preparing for the speaking section and subsequently 2 hours each for Reading and Listening. Every student is unique with their own strengths and weaknesses-so remember that this is really a rough outline. Many times, working predominantly with Italians unaccustomed to American writing styles I had to dedicate considerably more time to Writing-time which had to be borrowed against the hours originally designated to Reading and Listening practice. As always one's best judgment should be used to meet the particular needs of the student in question.
Writing: The absolute most important aspect to consider for the writing section is the student's knowledge of 5 paragraph form. As an American I've had this form drilled into my very being from the 5th grade all the way through the end of my sophomore year of college-and it ended there only because I was an English major. Italians on the other hand learn something similar at school called 'the scalletta' but then never use it. I saw no small share of essays that more closely resembled so-called 'stream of consciousness' writing (with every idea connected by 'in fact') than an organized piece of academic writing. While the graders for TOEFL do not specifically say 'Use 5 paragraph form' they do say 'organization counts'. In other words make students use 5 paragraph form.
As I mentioned about my Italian students, many do not have the proper experience with this concept of writing, so get as in depth as possible-even breaking it down one sentence at a time. The important thing is to make them integrate the organizational process as much as possible so they do it automatically without wasting too much time. My general practice was to do a general outline of 5 paragraph form then give them a specific question and 5 minutes to make a suitable outline then correct it as needed and repeat as necessary. Then give them 5-6 minutes to make an outline and write the introduction for another question. In general, I didn't waste valuable class time making students write entire essays, that is what homework is for.
Other things to consider for the writing section are: Idioms- their correct use in connection to the question. Connecting ideas counts too, clause to clause, sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. Correct usage of linking devices beyond 'but, or, and and'-therefore, whereas, however, similarly, etc. - can really make a good impression on the TOEFL essay graders. Grammar, while perfect grammar is not necessary to score well in the writing section, if it is incorrect to the point of giving unclear or even wrong information points will be lost. TOEFL wants to measure a student's ability to communicate effectively not how well he/she knows where to put a comma.
Speaking: As in the writing section of the test, organization counts. There is nothing worse a student can do than run out of time before getting to the point and answering the question whether it be for rambling or for not knowing what to say. I consider this really an extension of the work that was done for the writing section, the main difference being the limited amount of time the students have to prepare and deliver their responses. Here, I tell them 'give a response that is almost identical to the introductory paragraph of a five paragraph essay. It is: General statement (if applicable), Answer, Reason 1, Example 1 and time permitting Reason 2 and Example 2. This should be drilled just as the outlines in the writing section were.
In addition to forming an adequate response with little time students must also face the reality of having to speak into a microphone with no one listening/ responding on the other end. This can be awkward and embarrassing in a crowded room of test-takers. To avoid problems I drill my students by having them talk to the wall and then critiquing their answers. This is also a good time to put them on a stopwatch and time their answers. Responses should be completed within the time given (45-60 seconds depending on the question) without being too short. If the student finishes with 10 or more seconds remaining he should find something else to say.
One last important consideration is response delivery. It should be neither too fast nor too slow; avoiding long pauses and use of 'ummmmmmmm' In general the rules of public speaking apply. Pronunciation and intonation are important insofar as not making the grader scratch his/her head. Whenever that happens, points are sure to be lost.
Listening and Speaking: There are no particular secrets to doing well on these sections of the exam so I will dedicate this space to giving information that holds true throughout the exam. In general, there are two important things a student should do:
1. Understand what the question is asking. TOEFL has a lot of specific question types all of which ask the students to demonstrate a different ability. Any good guide to the exam will have clear explanations of these questions including how to recognize them and what is expected of the test taker when they encounter them. The hours dedicated to the reading section I generally focus on this.
2. With the exception of the reading section where students can have the text in front of them at all times, effective note taking will be important throughout the test, but particularly so in the listening section. Since there is no one correct way to do this, I generally encourage students to experiment and find the method that works best for each of them, whether it be in English or their native language. The only issue here is that students often try to write absolutely everything that is said. There is simply no time for this and as a result they often get lost, misunderstand or miss information altogether. Make them boil it down to the fewest words possible that will help them remember the details of what was said. A Navy SEAL unit, dubbed SEAL team 6 in a raid on a compound in North Eastern Pakistan found and killed Osama bin Laden can be reduced to 'Seals kill Osama, Pakistan,' for example.
I truly hope that this information can be helpful to teachers that read it and their students. To be honest, we've only just scratched the surface of TOEFL. But I remember having to develop an approach to the exam without help and without prior experience back in 2008 and am happy to share my experience with others. Please feel free to use and/or re-publish this material, but please give credit where credit is due by linking back to Cambridge School of English or leaving your comments on our blog. Below are some other links that may prove useful to both teachers and students having to face Toefl.
ETS.ORG The originators of the Toefl Exam and by far the best place to get authentic materials including The Official Guide to Toefl and online practice tests. The guide is handy because it uses real questions/audio from prior TOEFL Exams. The only downside, there is very little listening material.
Heinle Cengage Learning The makers of the Complete Guide to Toefl. Essentially, it is an imitation of the Official Guide but with many additional exercises to help students practice specific things. Drawback, the audio CDs are dreadfully expensive, useful for anyone who does a lot of TOEFL prep, otherwise an avoidable expense.
Cambridge School TOEFL Page. Lots of more specific advice about other aspects of the exam.
Cambridge Blog-Toefl Page FAQ about Toefl with answers, in both English and Italian. Have a specific question? Ask it.
Shortly thereafter students began to arrive looking for TOEFL preparation and it was my job to design a didactic program and train our other teachers both from our school and partner schools in our area. I'd had experience with Cambridge ESOL Examinations and other exams where the preparation can be a long and difficult process. Anyone already familiar with TOEFL knows that it is quite different both in form and content from Cambridge and other ESOL exams in circulation. The main problem was that students came to us perhaps two months before having to sit the exam. Not having the time available to follow a long language based preparation; it became quickly apparent that the only feasible option was to teach the test itself. In this article, windy preamble concluded, I will outline the steps to take in order to prepare your students to receive the best marks possible on TOEFL quickly with their current linguistic preparation
First, for general reference the scoring guide in relation to the Common European Framework (CEFR):
CEFR Level
TOEFL ibt Score ranges
A-1 (Elementary)
No Predictable Score
A-2 (Pre-intermediate)
No Predicable Score
B-1 (Intermediate)
45-60 pts
B-2 (Upper-Intermediate)
60-75 pts
C-1 (Advanced)
75- 100 pts
C-2 (Proficiency)
100-120 pts
After 10 hours of guided preparation and a great deal of self study my students, with very few exceptions, routinely exceeded these suggested scores by 5-15 points.
If you're reading this article you probably already know that TOEFL consists of four parts, Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing, in that order. Given that both the reading and the listening sections consist largely of multiple guess answers the best thing to do is to leave these 'simpler' sections until last.
The ten hour program I designed breaks down roughly to this: The first 3 one hour lessons are dedicated to writing practices. The next three hours are devoted to preparing for the speaking section and subsequently 2 hours each for Reading and Listening. Every student is unique with their own strengths and weaknesses-so remember that this is really a rough outline. Many times, working predominantly with Italians unaccustomed to American writing styles I had to dedicate considerably more time to Writing-time which had to be borrowed against the hours originally designated to Reading and Listening practice. As always one's best judgment should be used to meet the particular needs of the student in question.
Writing: The absolute most important aspect to consider for the writing section is the student's knowledge of 5 paragraph form. As an American I've had this form drilled into my very being from the 5th grade all the way through the end of my sophomore year of college-and it ended there only because I was an English major. Italians on the other hand learn something similar at school called 'the scalletta' but then never use it. I saw no small share of essays that more closely resembled so-called 'stream of consciousness' writing (with every idea connected by 'in fact') than an organized piece of academic writing. While the graders for TOEFL do not specifically say 'Use 5 paragraph form' they do say 'organization counts'. In other words make students use 5 paragraph form.
As I mentioned about my Italian students, many do not have the proper experience with this concept of writing, so get as in depth as possible-even breaking it down one sentence at a time. The important thing is to make them integrate the organizational process as much as possible so they do it automatically without wasting too much time. My general practice was to do a general outline of 5 paragraph form then give them a specific question and 5 minutes to make a suitable outline then correct it as needed and repeat as necessary. Then give them 5-6 minutes to make an outline and write the introduction for another question. In general, I didn't waste valuable class time making students write entire essays, that is what homework is for.
Other things to consider for the writing section are: Idioms- their correct use in connection to the question. Connecting ideas counts too, clause to clause, sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. Correct usage of linking devices beyond 'but, or, and and'-therefore, whereas, however, similarly, etc. - can really make a good impression on the TOEFL essay graders. Grammar, while perfect grammar is not necessary to score well in the writing section, if it is incorrect to the point of giving unclear or even wrong information points will be lost. TOEFL wants to measure a student's ability to communicate effectively not how well he/she knows where to put a comma.
Speaking: As in the writing section of the test, organization counts. There is nothing worse a student can do than run out of time before getting to the point and answering the question whether it be for rambling or for not knowing what to say. I consider this really an extension of the work that was done for the writing section, the main difference being the limited amount of time the students have to prepare and deliver their responses. Here, I tell them 'give a response that is almost identical to the introductory paragraph of a five paragraph essay. It is: General statement (if applicable), Answer, Reason 1, Example 1 and time permitting Reason 2 and Example 2. This should be drilled just as the outlines in the writing section were.
In addition to forming an adequate response with little time students must also face the reality of having to speak into a microphone with no one listening/ responding on the other end. This can be awkward and embarrassing in a crowded room of test-takers. To avoid problems I drill my students by having them talk to the wall and then critiquing their answers. This is also a good time to put them on a stopwatch and time their answers. Responses should be completed within the time given (45-60 seconds depending on the question) without being too short. If the student finishes with 10 or more seconds remaining he should find something else to say.
One last important consideration is response delivery. It should be neither too fast nor too slow; avoiding long pauses and use of 'ummmmmmmm' In general the rules of public speaking apply. Pronunciation and intonation are important insofar as not making the grader scratch his/her head. Whenever that happens, points are sure to be lost.
Listening and Speaking: There are no particular secrets to doing well on these sections of the exam so I will dedicate this space to giving information that holds true throughout the exam. In general, there are two important things a student should do:
1. Understand what the question is asking. TOEFL has a lot of specific question types all of which ask the students to demonstrate a different ability. Any good guide to the exam will have clear explanations of these questions including how to recognize them and what is expected of the test taker when they encounter them. The hours dedicated to the reading section I generally focus on this.
2. With the exception of the reading section where students can have the text in front of them at all times, effective note taking will be important throughout the test, but particularly so in the listening section. Since there is no one correct way to do this, I generally encourage students to experiment and find the method that works best for each of them, whether it be in English or their native language. The only issue here is that students often try to write absolutely everything that is said. There is simply no time for this and as a result they often get lost, misunderstand or miss information altogether. Make them boil it down to the fewest words possible that will help them remember the details of what was said. A Navy SEAL unit, dubbed SEAL team 6 in a raid on a compound in North Eastern Pakistan found and killed Osama bin Laden can be reduced to 'Seals kill Osama, Pakistan,' for example.
I truly hope that this information can be helpful to teachers that read it and their students. To be honest, we've only just scratched the surface of TOEFL. But I remember having to develop an approach to the exam without help and without prior experience back in 2008 and am happy to share my experience with others. Please feel free to use and/or re-publish this material, but please give credit where credit is due by linking back to Cambridge School of English or leaving your comments on our blog. Below are some other links that may prove useful to both teachers and students having to face Toefl.
ETS.ORG The originators of the Toefl Exam and by far the best place to get authentic materials including The Official Guide to Toefl and online practice tests. The guide is handy because it uses real questions/audio from prior TOEFL Exams. The only downside, there is very little listening material.
Heinle Cengage Learning The makers of the Complete Guide to Toefl. Essentially, it is an imitation of the Official Guide but with many additional exercises to help students practice specific things. Drawback, the audio CDs are dreadfully expensive, useful for anyone who does a lot of TOEFL prep, otherwise an avoidable expense.
Cambridge School TOEFL Page. Lots of more specific advice about other aspects of the exam.
Cambridge Blog-Toefl Page FAQ about Toefl with answers, in both English and Italian. Have a specific question? Ask it.
